Why drinking vinegar is not a healthy alternative to soda.
Your ageing correspondent is happy to admit he has never wittingly engaged with the social media platform known as TikTok.
But he is aware of the concept (it’s an app that encourages the sharing of 15-second videos) and is agnostic as to its contribution to the wellbeing or abasement of humanity.
However, as is the case with the overwhelming majority of social media platforms, TikTok is never going to be the best place to be seeking health advice.
For example, it’s definitely not a good idea to mix flavoured sparkling water with balsamic vinegar to create a “healthier” alternative to sugary soda drinks just because that concept has become a TikTok sensation.
Not only does it sound quite disgusting, chances are that the acidic balsamic could do some serious damage to your tooth enamel.
According to research published online in the open access journal JADA Foundational Science, mixing an acidic substance such as balsamic vinegar with carbonated water, whether sweetened with sugar or not, is going to increase the risk of tooth erosion.
“Most commercially available waters have a pH acidic enough to allow for the demineralisation of dentin,” the authors conclude. “However, beverages without flavouring agents or carbonation can be easily buffered with naturally occurring saliva. It is recommended that everyone consume beverages that do not have added acidic ingredients.”
To reach this somewhat unsurprising conclusion, the researchers soaked recently extracted human teeth in seven different sugar-free beverages (and one soda with sugar for comparison) to see which, if any, mixtures caused erosion. Six of the eight beverages were highly acidic on top of being carbonised.
The teeth were soaked for 24 hours, which the boffins estimated replicated a year’s worth of regular exposure to these beverages.
When measuring the results of soda with sugar versus sugar-free soda, they found acids in both caused dental enamel to erode. Researchers also found erosion in flavoured sparkling waters, though it was less than that observed for sugar-containing and sugar-free soda.
The only drinks that did not erode tooth enamel were non-carbonated, non-flavoured bottled waters.
“I love balsamic vinegar, but I enjoy it more on my salad than in my drinking glass. It’s much kinder to the teeth than bathing them in a beverage blend of two acids,” a spokesperson for the American Dental Association, Dr Edmond Hewlett, told media.
“If you’re looking for a glass of something that is actually good for your dental health, regular water, including fluoridated tap water, or milk are always good options.”
We suspect, however, that a 15-second video of someone drinking a glass of tap water is unlikely to rack up more than 6.3 million views on TikTok.
Or would it?
If you see something that has you grinding your teeth, spit it at penny@medicalrepublic.com.au.
